Earthquake
by WeatherWriter
Summary: An earthquake hits and someone gets hurt. I own nothing except for the characters I made up.


Ryan, Wilfred, and Josh are taking a walk at noon. They are on the way to the park to meet Kelly and Catherine.

"I am having another one of my strange senses again," Wilfred says.

"What do you think it is this time?" Ryan asks.

"I have no idea. I hope it's nothing major like your wife going into labor."

"I hope that's not it, either. Whenever you have senses like you do, does something major always happen?"

"Not always. One time I had a strange sense and all that happened that day was that Drew spilled his coffee."

"Hopefully it will be something small like spilled coffee," Ryan says.

"I don't know, Ryan. This sense seems to be stronger than usual. The only time I ever remember it being this strong is when we had a crazy thunderstorm."

"I hope we don't get any crazy weather. Josh hates thunder."

"Let's just continue with our usual day and hope for the best," Wilfred says.

They arrive at the park. Kelly and Catherine are waiting for them.

"Go see Mommy!" Ryan says to Josh.

Josh toddles over to Kelly. Wilfred walks beside him.

"Wanna go swing?" Kelly asks Josh.

Josh giggles and nods his head. Kelly takes Josh over to the swing set. She lifts him into the swing and begins pushing him. Josh laughs. Ryan and Catherine watch from one of the benches.

"Josh sure enjoys the swing," Catherine says to Ryan.

"I know. It's so cute watching him. He giggles every time he goes backwards."

"You always liked the slide. I could never get you away from it."

"Josh likes the slide, too. I think he'll like the merry-go-round once he's old enough to go on it."

"Kristen was the one who liked the merry-go-round. You would go on it with her, but after a few minutes, you wanted to go back to the slide."

Ryan laughs. He looks over at Kelly. She is lifting Josh out of the swing. She carries him toward the slide.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to help Kelly get him up there," Ryan says to his mother.

Just as Ryan is about to get up, the ground begins shaking. All the parents at the park scramble to get their children off of the playground. Ryan sees Kelly, with Josh in her arms, almost stumble backwards. He runs over and catches her from behind just before she hits the ground. He looks up and sees that a lamp-post is going to fall near Catherine.

"Mom, lookout!" Ryan shouts.

Catherine looks up, but is too late. The lamp-post falls on top of her, right across her ribcage. The shaking stops. Ryan runs over to Catherine.

"Mom, are you hurt?" Ryan asks Catherine.

Catherine struggles to talk.

"I'm going to get help. Kelly, can you stay with her, please?"

Kelly, with Josh in her arms, walks over to Catherine. Ryan runs to get help. Kelly slowly sits on the ground next to Catherine.

"I'm right here, Catherine," Kelly says.

Kelly puts her hand on top of Catherine's. Wilfred also walks over to Catherine. Ryan comes back with two strong men.

"We're going to lift this off of you, Mom. Everything's going to be fine."

Ryan helps Kelly stand up, and he hands Josh to her. Ryan and the two other men position themselves to lift the lamp-post off of Catherine.

"On the count of three. One, two, three," Ryan tells the two men helping him.

They lift the lamp-post off of Catherine. She gasps for breath.

"She doesn't look so good. She's going to need medical attention," one of the men says.

"I'm going to flag down an ambulance," Ryan says.

"I'll go find one. You need to be with your mom," says the other man.

"Thank you, sir," Ryan tells him.

The man goes off to find an ambulance. Ryan sits down next to Catherine.

"Mom, can you tell me what hurts?" Ryan asks.

Catherine points to her ribcage.

"You probably have broken ribs. We're going to get you to the hospital."

The man comes back with two paramedics. The paramedics have a gurney.

"I think she has broken ribs," Ryan tells the paramedics.

"Ma'am, we have to lift you onto the gurney. This is going to hurt. I want you to stay as calm as possible, ok," says one of the paramedics.

The paramedics stand Catherine up. She screams in pain. Josh cries. Kelly walks him away from the scene. The paramedics get Catherine onto the gurney and load her into the ambulance. Once the ambulance takes off, Kelly walks back over to Ryan. Ryan presses his forehead to Kelly's and puts one hand on Josh's back. He cries. Wilfred stands by a tree, a concerned expression is on his face.

An hour later…

Ryan, Kelly, and Josh are in the hospital's main lobby.

"I still can't get a hold of Dad," Ryan says to Kelly.

"Maybe we can stop by his house after we leave here," Kelly suggests.

"I highly doubt they'll let anyone out on the road tonight."

"Hopefully they will restore the power tonight. Then you'll be able to call him."

"I'm sure he'll be worried sick when he comes home and Mom isn't there," Ryan says.

"I really hope she's ok," Kelly says, concerned.

"Me, too. I wish I could have got to her quick enough to push her out of the way."

"There's nothing you could have done to stop it. Don't be hard on yourself."

Kelly puts her hand on Ryan's shoulder. A doctor comes out into the waiting room.

"I'm looking for Ryan Newman," the doctor says.

Ryan stands up.

"I am Ryan Newman."

"Hi, I'm Dr. Mitchell. Your mother is out of surgery. She has a few broken ribs and we stopped some internal bleeding in her stomach. We have her on some powerful pain medication so she will be asleep for awhile.

"Can I see her?" Ryan asks.

"Follow me, please," Dr. Mitchell says.

Dr. Mitchell leads Ryan into Catherine's room. Ryan sits near Catherine's bed. He takes her hand.

"Mom, I know you're asleep, but I love you," Ryan says.

Tears form in Ryan's eyes.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, but you're going to be fine."

Ryan squeezes Catherine's hand and leaves the room. He goes back into the waiting room. He breaks down. Kelly sits Josh in her chair, stands up, and wraps her arms around Ryan.

"I hate seeing her like this."

"I know. Everything is going to be ok."

"I think we should head home and try to call Dad again."

Ryan, Kelly, and Josh go home. An hour later, power is restored.

"I'm going to call Dad now," Ryan says.

Ryan picks up his phone and calls his father. Dan answers the phone.

"Hi, Dad. I've got some bad news. Mom is in the hospital."

There is silence on the end for a few seconds.

"She has a few broken ribs. The doctor also said that she had internal bleeding in her stomach. She is recovering from surgery," Ryan explains to his father.

There is more silence.

"Ok, I will see you tomorrow."

Ryan hangs up the phone.

"I'm going to step outside for a few minutes," says Ryan.

Ryan goes outside. Jenna is sitting on her front porch.

"Hi, Ryan," Jenna says.

"Hey, Jenna."

Jenna notices the tears in Ryan's eyes.

"Is everything alright?" Jenna asks.

"No, my mom got hurt. A lamp-post fell on top of her."

"Oh, my, gosh. That's terrible. Is she going to be alright?"

"She should be. The doctors stopped the internal bleeding. She'll just have a painful recovery because of the broken ribs."

"I'm so sorry to hear about that. Is there anything I can do?" Jenna asks Ryan.

"Just keep her in your thoughts and prayers."

"Of course."

"Thank you. It means a lot."

"Is everyone else in your family ok?"

"So far, yes. Kelly and Josh are a little shaken up, but they're ok."

"If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. I know I'll be starting work again tomorrow, but maybe my mom could watch Josh while you go in to see her."

"I'll let you know tomorrow. I really appreciate you listening to me." Ryan says to Jenna.

"It's not a problem at all."

"Are Drew and Wilfred ok?" Ryan asks.

"Yes. Drew is out cleaning up the roads. Wilfred is curled up with his giant teddy bear."

"Wilfred occasionally brings his teddy bear over here when I look after him."

Ryan and Jenna chuckle.

"Well, I'm going back inside. Kelly will probably want to get Josh ready for bed soon."

"Have a good evening."

"You, too."

Ryan goes back inside.

"I talked to Jenna for a few minutes. Everyone in her house is ok."

"That's a relief, Kelly says. I was worried about them."

"Do you want me to put Josh to bed?"

"I can do it. You had a rough afternoon."

"I don't mind. Putting Josh to bed will help me take my mind off of what has happened."

Ryan takes Josh from Kelly and takes him into the nursery. Kelly walks in shortly after. Ryan puts Josh in his crib, and watches over him for a few seconds.

"I'm glad he won't remember all of this," Ryan says.

"Me, too," Kelly says.

Kelly wraps her arms around Ryan. They stand there for a few seconds. Ryan turns around, and takes Kelly's hand. They go into their bedroom.

The next morning…

Ryan and Kelly are awake fairly early the next morning.Ryan gets Josh ready for the day.

"I was thinking about seeing Mom this morning," Ryan says to Kelly.

"That's a good idea. Maybe she will be awake."

"I sure hope so."

"I think we should bring Josh with us. It would really cheer her up if she saw him," Kelly suggests.

"I agree. Are you ready to start heading out?"

"Yes."

Ryan, Kelly, and Josh go to the hospital. They walk into Catherine's room. Dan is sitting by her side. She is awake.

"Hi, Mom. How are you feeling?" Ryan asks.

Catherine does not answer.

"You're going to be fine. We are all here to support you."

"Jenna and Drew said they would pray for you," Kelly says, smiling at Catherine.

Catherine smiles.

"There's that smile. See, you're pulling through," Ryan says, smiling.

Meanwhile…

Wilfred is with Bear at Jenna and Drew's house. He is playing with her in the basement, when he accidentally rips her head off. Wilfred states at her for a second.

"Bear? Can you hear me?" Wilfred asks.

Wilfred frantically tries to glue her head back on, but it does not work.

"Stay with me, Bear. You're my true love. I can't live without you."

Wilfred begins crying. He picks up Jenna's phone and calls Ryan. Ryan does not answer because he is in the hospital.

To be continued…


End file.
